Aldrich Ames was a CIA counterintelligence analyst whose career as a spy lasted so long that he
was able to betray the United States not only with the Soviet Union but also with the Russian
republic. He is still around, although he is cooling his heels in a federal penitentiary as he
serves a life term.

The Assets is based on a nonfiction account of Aldrich’s nefarious career by Sandy Grimes
and Jeanne Vertefuille, who were members of the team looking into the especially high number of
U.S. agents being “compromised” by leaks of secrets to the Soviets.

The series wastes no time letting viewers know that Ames (Paul Rhys) is the mole, nor should it:
The case was famous because Ames was the last person one would expect to be a spy.

With Ames, we get a pasty-faced little man who constantly shakes with fear. A bespectacled nerd
with a tiny mustache, he divorced his wife to marry Colombian national Maria del Rosario (Catalina
Denis). He is the type of spy John le Carre would create, so, of course, no one suspects him.

Grimes (Jodie Whittaker) and the rest of her division are desperate to find out who has been
leaking secrets and think they finally have a lead when a top KGB agent named Vitaly Yurchenko
(John Lynch) defects to the United States.

Ames, of all people, is assigned to debrief Yurchenko.

The two episodes sent to critics are fairly gripping. We know that Ames is the bad guy and that
he’ll get caught, but, instead of being a spoiler, the knowledge heightens our interest.

Rhys and Whittaker are terrific — and the two big reasons to watch the series.